Illinois state Senator James Meeks took his school funding campaign to supporters of Chicago’s bid to host the 20-16 Olympics. Meeks visited an Olympic committee presentation to business leaders this morning. He pressed them to pay as much attention to Chicago’s schools as they are to the city’s Olympic bid.
MEEKS: We need all of our minds, all of our academic minds, all of our business minds focused on education. And it would be great if education could have this kind of platform and not 17 days of fun and games. It’s all right to have fun and games, but who’s working on education at this same clip?
The head of Chicago’s Olympic committee says the games would benefit the city’s schools through new sports programs.
Meeks recently organized a student boycott to protest funding problems. Next week he’ll meet with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to discuss the issue.